In the beginning, the Biden campaign was severely underfunded and working with a shoe-string budget. With the exception of a handful of staff that had been with him for many years, Joe Biden had only raised $53 million when the Democratic Primary was approaching a vote. Bernie Sanders had amassed a wealth of $333 million, had essentially campaigned for five years, and had kids on college campuses across the United States. We had 2 people on bare-minimum stipends for all of California - a state with over 40 million people.

The canvassing and print collateral provided was printed and made by Union workers, as Unions are so important to Joe Biden. But the design of the print collateral can only be described as what would have only been passable when I first began my career in 1999. It's important to make a distinction between the Digital Team and this print collateral. The Digital Team, aided by Teal, was exceptional from the beginning. The Biden President logo was a masterpiece, which I've described on the page dedicated to designers. It wasn't just the all-caps bold "trustworthy" font face - it was the fact that for a full year all of America saw the words "President" and "Biden" always together. The logo alone did, in my opinion, more for winning the Primary than any marketing they had ever produced to that point.

So what was the problem with the print collateral and canvassing? For starters, it consisted of two things: Postcards that asked people to physically mail an "I will vote" pledge, and Brochures that had a mess of something like 8 pictures of Joe Biden on the front, grayscale, desaturated, and with dark colors that looked gloomy and would not pass ADA muster. If you approached any marketing professional and asked them how to market an Elder white man to some 240~ million people how many do you think would suggest a collage of his face a zillion times without any color, vibrance or life? The brochures looked more like the kind of handout you get at a memorial - or at the very kindest, an add for a retirement home. Even retirement homes try to be sunny, bright and full of life. These missed all those marks. And the worst crime of all is it did not match either who Joe Biden is as a person - and neither did it match his wants and desires for what he wanted his campaign to be about.

As March rolled around, the tiny underfunded, underdog campaign had sent out the National Organizing Director and the ONE field organizer tasked with all of Northern California. I had pointed out what I saw as critical mistakes, and a serious miscalculation and misunderstanding of Joe's base. Rather than setup shop in The Bay Area and Sacramento where I believed Joe's base was - they set up their headquarters in SoCal, where Bernie Sanders dominated. The campaign was so poor, they'd given us ONE organizer for all of NorCal - and she was literally knocking on doors and driving hours to visit a single house. We have over 6 million people here. But The South - and Black Women, specifically, came through like a hammer and the smashed the Primary with an impact so loud it could be heard 3,000 miles away in San Francisco. By the time they had flown away the next week and swapped in a new organizer, they were finally starting to listen. Not only did that organizer agree, he was vocal about it. He reiterated that not having QR codes on the canvassing material - and the quality - was something that looked (in his words) like it was made in 2004. He threw their print material in the trash and used mine. He also listened to my suggestions on how to reach people when you have one person on-foot trying to canvass 6 million Bay Area residents, and directly defied his instructions. Instead, he did what I suggested: He went to our BART (subway) stations and passed out signs, flyers and our print collateral. He spoke directly to commuters coming in and out of the station.

I can't stress enough how much I literally begged the campaign to focus on a digital campaign, use QR codes on print collateral, and stop knocking on doors nationwide. I begged them to go Digital.

I'll be highlighting select people that I think deserve special thanks and to be honored for going so far above and beyond, but Beto supporters across the board enthusiastically devoted themselves to the Biden campaign long, long before any other teams came into the fold. The Beto Road Warriors became The Biden Flight Crew. Jessica M Drass launched a "Biden is Punk AF" campaign of events for Gen X'ers and the actual base that wanted Joe the most.

As the campaign, our grassroots movement, Beto supporters and new support from Kamala Harris, a few from Warren and Team Pete came into the fold, we became a united, well-oiled machine and a force to be reckoned with. The Trump campaign had no idea how to attack us. It was as if all of their attack plans had been written out to attack Bernie, and they had no clue how to adjust for someone like Joe.

Instead of following Trump's footsteps, we, like Joe, EMBRACED the fact that he was very human. The Human President! Someone who makes mistakes, has failed, has suffered, has lost, had struggled with a speech impediment his whole life, and who entered the White House as the poorest Vice President (a net worth of negative -$200k+) and left the 2nd highest office with a net worth of just that year's salary. Sure, they tried to say he hadn't done anything in all his years in the Senate. The facts disagreed. He's passed more bills than all but one Senator in his tenure. They tried to say he was "low energy" like Jeb!...but one-handed drinks of water and the press having to keep up with him jogging told a different story. And the campaign began to reflect who Joe Biden is, most importantly. The Atlantic's article about Joe's lifelong struggle disarmed opponents and humanized an already down-to-earth human being. People like me shared their stories of our sons (or daughers or their own lifelong challenges) en masse. My son's story is still pinned to my Twitter.

The Biden for President Campaign reached its full potential and grew to become a national movement alongside the March for racial Justice and reform. We held the longest and larges lead over a sitting incumbent president in recorded history from Spring 2020 through Summer and into Fall/Autumn. Joe Biden didn't shy away from his support for Black Lives Matter and Black Americans suffering, grieving, and grappling with a never ending saga of death and injustice. And Rep Clyburn, Stacy Abrams, Symone Sanders and The Honorable John Lewis we not just friends of Joe - they were people he regarded with Honor and Admiration, who endorsed and embraced his Leadership and the continuous stark contrast of his ACTIONS opposite Trump. Joe visited the families. Joe called families. Joe kneeled, mourned and took notes. He prayed. He showed up. And as he had done throughout his career, he walked - and now Marched & jogged - as an Ally without reservation.

Following the Lead of Biden and the Official Campaign, we focused on a from-the-bottom-up Economy and spent our time and our efforts not on arguing with the far-left, but on controlling our own narrative and Leading the way. We Lead with Plans to tackle injustice, economic need and place a priority on the working class, everyday Joes Jane and Jacquelyns who need to be paid right, and need help right now. We reminded American what Democrats stand for: a bottom-up Economy that gives tax breaks and credits, raises wages, and pours Billions of dollars of money into investing in the least of us UP. Because, when the least of us thrives, so do businesses and the most successful. Keynesian economics, where common Americans don't just make a living - but a damn good living - is what most Americans want. And free help to the people that need it to he most (the poor and the 75% of Americans that don’t earn six figures, ending homelessness, tackling police reform, racial justice reform, and racial economic inequity - that's what the average American cares about. And we didn't choose to argue, belittle, demean or be terrible people to those attackers. We just blocked them and went about the business of winning For The People.

Like my own attempts to keep our supporters focused when it came to the MAGA, there were those that insisted on fighting "fire with fire", adding oxygen to the attacks. Again I say, the phrase alone provides a visual that tells anyone who hears it how successful that "logic" is bound to be. If you’re ever faced with your house on fire - try throwing more fire at it and let me know if it saves the house. OR...just throwing this out there, maybe we stamp it out and extinguish it.